Ahhh....the sound of a Firefly virgin starting to appreciate the shinyness ahead...beautiful....'specially on a mega-blog!

Chris inVirginia | September 28, 06:05 CET

Well, as CiV notes, this is a great review. For those who aren't so familiar with Instapundit, his word is fairly holy writ amongst the legal profession and the more, um, "serious" (meaning daily grind-type) bloggers. So if this gets only 10% more California attorneys to see Serenity, that's another, what?, 5 million paid attendees . . .

SoddingNancyTribe | September 28, 06:13 CET

SNT, why is instapundit "fairly holy writ" amongst the legal profession? I checked over his site and it isn't necessarily readily apparent why he is so influential. Is his influence mainly in California or all over the country? I.e., will the genre-scorning lawyers I know here on the East Coast read him and take sudden notice of Serenity? (Can you sense the trembling hope in my query?)

This is obviously big stuff. Thank goodness he liked it.

phlebotinin | September 28, 06:52 CET

I work in a law office on the East Coast and I know for a fact that none of our attorneys have ever heard of Instapundit. However, the "holy writ" assessment seems pretty accurate for what I know of a whole lot of West Coast people, in the legal profession and otherwise.

Still really nice to hear this, though.

binkaboo | September 28, 07:02 CET

Ah, thanks, binkaboo.

phlebotinin | September 28, 07:03 CET

Instapundit is a "fairly holy writ" for a few main reasons: he's obsessive about blogging, has been doing it since the early days of blogs, links to a wide variety of interesting stuff, and manages to do a decent amount of commentary that's worth reading, whether you agree with him or not. He's one of the few bloggers I read daily.

FWIW, he's a law professor in Knoxville, Tennessee, which isn't much like California unless you're talking about far to the north of San Francisco. There are better and more influential legal blogs. The main attraction, I think, is that his blog reflects a relentless curiosity and a very interesting mind.

MissKittysMom | September 28, 07:45 CET

personally? I coulda done without Instapundit's praise--the Perfesser, although not as bad as some wingnut bloggers, is still fairly reprehensible politically...he wouldn't have thought too well of Joss' support of Kerry in '04. although he HAS repopularized usage of "heh" and "indeed".

annagranfors | September 28, 07:52 CET

"fairly reprehensible politically" = "I don't agree with him"

Must fight the temptation.....

This isn't a political board, it's a board devoted to Joss Whedon's works and the people who brought them to life. I don't care if a lefty propagandist like Michael Moore gives Serenity a good review, except for the fact that it's likely to increase Serenity's ticket sales.

PS And I'm certain that Instapundit would have absolutely no problem with Joss's decision to support Kerry. That's what democracy is all about - people on all sides voting and trying to convince others that their positions and candidates are correct.

rkayn | September 28, 08:04 CET

Thanks to Instapundit, I got my chance to see the movie early and to post a review on my blog. My Whedon-fanship is confessed early on the post, and am glad to join with others to note this arrival of Whedon's "up yours" to Fox.
And yeah, east Tennessee is hardly a hip corner of the world, but I'm working on it. They're a tough crowd.
You'll find my blog at http://cupofjoepowell.blogspot.com/

MrPointy | September 28, 11:31 CET

Oh, "fairly holy writ" was, as ever, my hyperbolic spin. But, as Miss Kitty's Mom said, Glenn Reynolds is one of the grand old guys of blogging, especially legal blogging, and so gets a lot of respect, and cross-referencing, on that basis. But, yeah, I'm sure many/most attorneys nationwide aren't aware of him. OTOH, most are probably not that aware of blogging in general.

As for politics: I enjoy many legal bloggers (Eugene Volokh, to name one) with whom I don't necessarily agree on everything, because they're informed and eclectic of spirit. And I'm glad Instapundit could look beyond his own political diffs with Joss to post a decent review.

SoddingNancyTribe | September 28, 11:31 CET

annagranfors please use uppercase letters at the start of your sentences. And it doesn't really matter what the mainstream political affliation of the reviewer is when they talk about the movie. So no need to bring it up here.

Simon | September 28, 12:56 CET

One last comment re: political stuff. I think most conservatives are well used to the idea that most (though far from all) creative types are liberals and it doesn't really hamper there enjoyment of their products.

In this case, for those who care, there is also the buffer that Firefly's cocreator was perhaps every bit as conservative as Joss is progressive so there may be a level of safety there they don't usually have with a given more.

I do agree that one shouldn't bash/discount a review just because it comes from a site you disagree with, however vehemently. Though it would be interesting if, say, White Supremacists or someone else we can all agree is reprehensible liked "Serenity" -- stranger things have happened.

bobster | September 28, 18:25 CET

Instapundit's long been an ardent supporter of inarguably one of the most corrupt governments this country's ever seen, and a bigger Big Bad, too. (where's Buffy when you need her?) and have you ever seen the picture of Glenn (Instapundit) in his "Celebrate Diversity" t-shirt, festooned with all of the cute handguns?

http://www.thoseshirts.com/

call me sensitive, but the shirt manages to mock the original message of "Celebrating Diversity" with a breathtaking insensitivity, and handguns? to quote, probably incorrectly, Buffy: "These never solve anything." (support for or against guns is, of course, very arguable, as much of US history will testify. I'm just sayin'.)

this is, of course, America, and everybody (Glenn, me, and you) should have the opportunity to voice their opinion whenever and whereever they want to. free speech zones suck. all I'm saying, I guess, is that I largely discount the opinion of someone like Glenn, whose enthusiastic support of the Corporate States of America is something I find reprehensible.

[ edited by annagranfors on 2005-09-29 00:10 ]

[ edited by annagranfors on 2005-09-29 00:11 ]

annagranfors | September 29, 00:48 CET